Taoiseach: Indoor diners may not have to show Covid Certs once vaccination ends

A 'comprehensive' Government plan for reopening the remaining sectors of the Irish economy will be published on August 31.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has indicated that indoor diners may no longer need to produce a Digital Covid Cert once the vaccination programme has concluded.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, the Taoiseach said the need for the Digital Covid Cert to dine indoors will be reassessed "at the end of the vaccination programme". 

The initial phase of the programme will finish at the end of September, before booster vaccinations begin.

The Taoiseach said the Government would be guided by advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) on the issue of Digital Certs.

A 'comprehensive' Government plan for reopening the remaining sectors of the Irish economy will be published on August 31, he said.

A cabinet meeting is due to take place on that date and the Taoiseach said the Government will sign off on "a roadmap for the next phase of managing Covid-19 and also reopening the remaining sectors of society, returning to work, offices, the live entertainment sector, the arts, theatre, and a whole range of indoor activities that currently are not open." 

The Government has come under sustained pressure to reopen the hard-hit live entertainment sector amid reports that Arts Minister Catherine Martin could not secure approval for her own roadmap. 

The Taoiseach has refused to be drawn on dates or timelines for the reopening of certain sectors.

Micheál Martin said he understood the need for "clarity" for those who work in the sector and insisted that timelines will be made clear on August 31

"We always said that we will open on a phased basis, that we wouldn't be opening everything at once and we take onboard public health advice at all time because our only objective is to protect people from getting the disease, getting into hospital and getting into ICU," he said.

Arts Minister Catherine Martin may attend next week's Cabinet subcommittee on Covid-19, though she was not at Thursday's meeting.

Ms Martin has requested to attend the meetings from now on after the split emerged between herself and her Cabinet colleagues over a plan for reopening the live events sector.

At a virtual meeting with more than 20 representatives from the sector on Wednesday, the minister was unable to supply the reopening date for live entertainment, nor provide a detailed roadmap.

Sources say that Ms Martin told the meeting’s attendees that she had written to the three Government parties’ leaders two weeks ago to express “her deep concern for the industry and unhappiness with (the) pace of reopening” and the “disparity” between how sports and music events have been treated.

Artistic director of the Everyman Theatre in Cork, Sophie Motley, said the arts sector was not looking for special dispensation from Government.

"We're waiting and waiting patiently, but we've braced for reopening before to no avail, and still we don't know what the plan is. That is just not good enough at this stage," she added.

The Cabinet sub-committee on Covid-19 met on Thursday "to get a sense of where we are now" in terms of the fight against the Delta variant, the Taoiseach said. 

The meeting was told a further 1,818 cases of Covid-19 has been confirmed by the Department of Health. 

Currently, 244 people are hospitalised with Covid-19, with 52 people being treated in ICU. 

The Taoiseach warned that the Delta variant wave has not reached its peak,  and said there is “still a journey to go yet” with the peak of the current wave of infections not expected until mid or late September. 

He added that "there will always be a need for personal responsibility, for social distancing, mask-wearing in certain scenarios in the coming months."

Meanwhile, the HSE has said it will operate walk-in vaccination clinics over the coming days. 

Dose 1 and Dose 2 vaccination clinics will be open to those aged 16 and over, who have not yet been vaccinated or are awaiting their second dose.